Memoria Press Greek Studies

Memoria Press's Greek offerings bring the same systematic grammar-translation method that built their Latin reputation to koine and classical Greek, for the small but serious subset of classical homeschool families who want both the Latin and Greek sides of the Western canon.

Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Classical, grammar-translation, subject-specialist
Worldview	Christian-ecumenical (Protestant-leaning, koine Greek tradition)
Grades	4-12 (Elementary Greek starts at 4; First Form and Athenaze at upper grades)
Formats	Print textbooks and workbooks, optional streaming video via Memoria Press Online Academy
Cost tier	Standard
Parent intensity	4 (self-taught) / 2 (with MPOA)
ESA-common	Varies
Accredited	Memoria Press Online Academy is accredited
Established	Elementary Greek series developed in the 2000s
Website	memoriapress.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	Systematic grammar instruction; demanding but not at classics-department level
Ease of teaching	2	A parent with no Greek background is on their own without MPOA enrollment
Content quality	4	Careful pedagogical progression modeled on Memoria's Latin sequence
Flexibility	3	Works stand-alone or within Memoria cores; less common as a supplement
Value for money	4	Print materials are reasonable; MPOA enrollment is the real cost
Worldview scope	3	Koine Greek is tied to New Testament reading; classical Greek track available
Visual/design	3	Traditional textbook presentation; understated and uncluttered
Support resources	4	DVDs, online academy, teacher keys, vocabulary flashcards

Who the publisher is

Memoria Press is a classical-education publisher founded in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1994 by Cheryl Lowe. Lowe's original curriculum was Latina Christiana, a Latin primer built for the homeschool market, and Memoria Press spent its first decade establishing itself as the single most widely used Latin publisher among classical homeschool families. The Greek offerings are a younger and smaller portion of the catalog, built on the same pedagogical template: systematic grammar-translation, daily incremental drill, teacher editions with answer keys, and optional streaming video instruction through the company's Memoria Press Online Academy (MPOA).

Greek at Memoria Press comes in two tracks. The Elementary Greek Koine for Beginners series, written by Christine Gatchell, is a three-year introduction to koine (New Testament) Greek designed to begin as early as fourth grade and usable through middle school or as a high school introduction for older beginners. First Form Greek is a more accelerated grammar-translation text following the same template as Memoria's First Form Latin series, written for students with or without a Greek background. For students reading to classical authors rather than the New Testament, MPOA teaches Athenaze, a widely-used Italian-American classical Greek text, through its high-school-level live online courses.

The audience for Memoria Press Greek is small relative to the Latin audience. Classical homeschool families who commit to the full Memoria Press sequence often add Greek in upper elementary or middle school as a second classical language; families who want only one classical language almost always pick Latin. For that reason, Memoria Press's Greek materials exist in the comfortable position of being the default choice within a small field, with comparatively few direct competitors in the American homeschool market.

The core pedagogy

Memoria Press Greek teaches the way Memoria Press Latin teaches, which is to say by the classical grammar-translation method: students learn the alphabet, then declensions, then conjugations, then vocabulary, then sentence construction, progressing in small daily increments with heavy repetition. The first year of Elementary Greek is almost entirely devoted to the Greek alphabet, accents and breathings, the first-declension noun, and a vocabulary of perhaps fifty to eighty core words. By the end of year three, students should be able to read simple koine sentences and short adapted passages, with a vocabulary of several hundred words and control over the regular noun and verb paradigms.

The pedagogical posture is unapologetically traditional. Modern language-acquisition research on immersive, comprehensible-input methods, the approach behind programs like Ancient Language Institute and classical-immersion programs, is not Memoria's frame. Memoria teaches Greek as a grammar system to be memorized, drilled, and applied through translation exercises. Students who complete the sequence can parse Greek verbs and decline Greek nouns reliably; they are generally not able to hold a conversation in Attic Greek (a skill few classical programs actually produce).

Signature mechanics: (1) Daily incremental progression, a new grammar point or vocabulary set is introduced most days, with prior-day review built into the workbook exercises. (2) Workbook-driven practice, approximately six pages of exercises per lesson in First Form Greek, with concept mastery learning spread over four days. (3) Optional DVD or streaming video, for parents without Greek, Memoria Press sells instructional video sets that accompany the textbooks, and MPOA offers live online classes with a credentialed teacher. (4) Teacher editions with answer keys, a parent grading Greek exercises does not need to be a Greek scholar. (5) Vocabulary flashcards and digital drill, recent editions include digital flashcard apps to supplement the paper vocabulary lists.

The difference between Elementary Greek and First Form Greek is one of pace and audience. Elementary Greek is gentler, aimed at a student starting young, and spreads the material across three years. First Form Greek is more condensed, aimed at a student in roughly seventh or eighth grade who is ready to move quickly through material presented in a format parallel to the student's Latin course. Families pick one track or the other; they are not designed to be run in sequence.

A day in the life

A seventh-grader using First Form Greek begins the morning's language block by opening the workbook to the current lesson. On a typical day the student reads the day's new grammar point, perhaps the first-declension feminine noun paradigm, watches the accompanying video lesson (ten to fifteen minutes, either on DVD or via the Memoria Press Academy), and then completes the workbook exercises for the day (roughly fifteen to twenty minutes). The parent checks the work against the teacher's key in the evening or the next morning. On Fridays, the student takes the weekly quiz covering the prior week's material. Total daily time for Greek: twenty-five to thirty-five minutes.

A fourth-grader using Elementary Greek Year 1 runs differently. The daily commitment is lighter, ten to fifteen minutes per session, five days a week, with heavier emphasis on alphabet and vocabulary recitation and less on sentence translation. The parent typically sits with the child through the first several months to ensure the alphabet and accent system are correctly learned, then transitions to a checking-and-supporting role once the child can decode the script independently.

What they do exceptionally well

Pedagogical consistency with Memoria Press Latin. For families already running First Form Latin, First Form Greek is a frictionless addition. The workbook layout, lesson rhythm, grammar terminology, and testing pattern are parallel, which reduces the cognitive overhead for both student and parent. This is a real advantage over mixing and matching publishers across classical languages. Cathy Duffy's review framework consistently notes Memoria's internal consistency across its Latin and Greek lines.

Teacher editions that make parents sufficient. A parent who has never seen Greek can run First Form Greek or Elementary Greek with the teacher's key, the video, and roughly thirty minutes a week of preparation. This is rare in Greek instruction, where the typical alternative is to hire a tutor or enroll in an outside class. Memoria Press's combination of teacher's editions, instructional video, and MPOA enrollment options means that even families with no classical-language background can teach Greek through at least the grammar stage.

Koine and classical tracks side by side. Families who want New Testament Greek (for reading the Gospels in the original language) can use the Elementary Greek Koine sequence. Families who want classical Attic Greek (for reading Homer, Plato, and the tragedians) can enroll in MPOA's Athenaze classes. Few American homeschool publishers offer both tracks, and Memoria makes the distinction plain rather than glossing over which dialect a student is learning.

What they do poorly

Pure grammar-translation in a field moving toward comprehensible input. Contemporary second-language-acquisition research has converged on the conclusion that immersive comprehensible-input methods produce better reading and reading-comprehension outcomes than grammar-translation, and programs like Ancient Language Institute have built their Greek offerings around that research. Memoria Press's method is the traditional approach, well-executed, but a family who wants their student to actually read Plato or Paul fluently at the end of the sequence may find the grammar-translation outcome less satisfying than a comprehensible-input program's outcome would be.

Small scale and limited upper-level offerings. Above the First Form Greek and Elementary Greek levels, Memoria Press's Greek catalog thins out. A student who has completed the foundational texts and wants to continue through Homer, the Greek New Testament, or Attic prose is largely dependent on MPOA enrollment (live online courses, limited seats per year) or on transitioning to college-preparatory Greek texts from outside publishers. The path from completed First Form Greek to reading actual Greek literature is less clearly marked than the equivalent Latin path.

MPOA is where the real cost lives. A self-taught family using First Form Greek or Elementary Greek spends modestly on the print materials. A family enrolling the student in MPOA for live online instruction spends substantially more, MPOA tuition for a full-year course runs approximately $425-$625 per student per course as of April 2026, and the cost comp­ounds if the student takes both Greek and Latin. Families considering Greek through MPOA should budget accordingly.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Memoria Press Greek if: you are already running Memoria Press Latin and want a parallel Greek track; you have a middle-school or older student committed to classical languages; you want koine Greek to read the Greek New Testament; you appreciate systematic grammar-translation pedagogy; you are willing to budget for MPOA if no Greek-reading parent is available; you want a publisher with an accredited online-school option behind the print materials.

• Skip Memoria Press Greek if: you want immersive comprehensible-input Greek instruction; you have no existing classical-language sequence and adding Greek would be an orphan subject; your student is younger than fourth grade and has not yet established reading fluency; you want a purely secular classical Greek program (Memoria's koine orientation is explicitly New Testament–oriented); you cannot commit to daily practice over three or more years.

Cost honest assessment

Elementary Greek Year 1 Textbook is priced at approximately $20-$25 as of April 2026, with a full Year 1 set (textbook, workbook, teacher's key) running approximately $55-$75. The Year 3 set runs at a similar tier per Memoria Press's Elementary Greek III listing. First Form Greek sets (text, workbook, teacher editions, test packet, and instructional DVDs) run approximately $120-$180 for a complete first-year kit.

MPOA tuition for a full-year Greek course runs approximately $425-$625 as of April 2026 per the Memoria Press Academy course catalog, on top of the textbook cost. A family running First Form Greek fully self-taught pays roughly $150; a family running the same course through MPOA pays roughly $575-$800 all in.

The competitive comparison: Ancient Language Institute Greek runs approximately $650-$1,000 per semester for live small-group instruction; Classical Academic Press's Greek for Children runs approximately $50-$80 for print materials. Memoria Press sits in the middle: costlier than pure print-only competitors, less expensive than the live-instruction alternatives.

ESA eligibility notes

Memoria Press is approved on most state ESA marketplaces that cover classical curriculum, including Arizona's ClassWallet, Florida's Step Up for Students, West Virginia's Hope Scholarship, Iowa's Student First Scholarship, and Utah Fits All. Both the print Greek materials and MPOA enrollment are typically eligible, though MPOA's live online courses may be billed as "tutoring" or "online courses" in marketplace categories rather than as curriculum purchases. Families should confirm with their state marketplace whether MPOA enrollment falls within their ESA category limits. Because Memoria's koine Greek content is explicitly Christian (drawing on the New Testament), states that restrict religious-curriculum purchases may require additional review. Memoria Press's customer service can confirm ESA status for specific state marketplaces on request.

Alternatives

• Ancient Language Institute, a family would choose ALI over Memoria Press Greek because ALI's comprehensible-input approach targets reading fluency rather than grammar mastery, and its instructors are specialists in Greek rather than classical-curriculum generalists.
• Classical Academic Press Greek for Children, a family would choose CAP's Greek for Children over Memoria because CAP's materials are gentler and more visually engaging for younger students, and the publisher's broader ecosystem (Song School Latin, Greek for Children Primer A) is well-integrated.
• Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!, a family would choose Greek 'n' Stuff's series over Memoria Press because it is cheaper, gentler, and designed for parents without Greek backgrounds who want a leisurely four-to-five-year sequence.

How we verified this

Our editorial team reviewed the Memoria Press Greek curriculum page, the Elementary Greek I set, the First Form Greek workbook listing, and the Memoria Press Online Academy catalog. We cross-referenced against Christianbook's Memoria Press Greek page for pricing and scope, and Cathy Duffy's review framework for Memoria's classical languages. Prices and program details verified April 2026.